This Day In History..

* Put your mouse over the pictures for descriptions and you can also click to enlarge.

"Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan...As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense...With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God."

President F.D. Roosevelt - 8th December 1941

I have been wanting to make the post since the day I came back from Hawaii. What better way to do it than on the actual day 65 years ago. I gained knowledge ....more knowledge about Pearl Harbor by visiting the memorial instead of hearing about it in school. I was honestly shocked because I just did not know half of what was told to me. My basic idea was the Japs came and bombed Pearl Harbor and that started World War II. That's it.

I hope you truly take the time to read this blog and look at the pictures I took.
Did you know the memorial is built on top of the actual battleship called the U.S.S Arizona and inside there are over 900 Men, Women and Children...dead bodies floating in that ship which could not be recovered?? (All the rust you see in the pictures is the actual ship itself below the water.) It is a living memorial. Still until this day...oil seeps out of the ship below sea and you see it rise to the surface and you can smell it too (as in the pics). They say it is the tears of those below. I honestly had chills standing inside the memorial. If you notice the memorial (white building) it is in a bowed shape...the middle part bows down to represent the downfall and suffering and the two rised ends represent our nation before and after the attacks...always strong and moving forward. Now that I have visited the site.... speechless.... I mean not to compare to 9/11 yet I think this threw most people out of their daily rituals.

December 7, 1941 the day began routinely...Sailors and Marines turned out for church services, chores, and chow. They looked forward to off-duty time for recreation, letter-writing, or sleep. The Navy had been preparing for war - but never a massive air attack. Unknown to the Americans more than 350 Japanese Planes were headed this way from aircraft carriers north of the island, while Japanese midget submarines probed harbor defenses. (you can see this in the model picture of the ship carrying the planes) At 7:55 a.m. the first wave of enemy planes appeared overhead, just as American Sailors and Marines assembled on their vessels to raise the "Stars and Stripes"...attacks continued until 10am that morning with a 15 minute lull time around 8:30. The Japanese settled on what is known as "Battleship Row" which was 7 American battleships lined up against the docks. At about 8:10 am the Arizona was mortally wounded by an armor piercing bomb, which ignited the ship's forward Ammunition magazine. The resulting explosion and fire killed 1,177 crewmen, in 9 minutes... the greatest loss of life on any ship that day and about half the total number of Americans killed.

I hope you have gained more of an insight into this day. If you get a chance to go to Oahu make the time to pay your respects. They bring you out on a ferry boat to the memorial and the silence itself is enough to have you meditating on the events which took place that day.

Final Generation